Alan Bean, who I met years ago at an arts sale store, wrote about 5 books on his adventures and life. When I bought one of his paintings for my son, the view of Earth from the Moon (signed by all of the Apollo 12 crew), I also bought his book (With writer Andrew Chaikins - “Apollo” - An Eyewitness Account”), which he signed and then gave me a second signed one for free (for both my children).
He was a real gentleman and a pleasure to talk with. He had the most spiritual concept and inner feelings of all the astronauts regarding the beauty of space, the moon, the earth, etc.
His paintings were first class and affordable, which has made many people very happy to have at least one of them in their homes.
I’ve met, seen, or have the autographs of 7 of the 12 moonwalkers, and some of the command module pilots who circled the moon. Each is a fascinating individual whose story is worth reading, and they are all humble people in my opinion.
Buzz Aldrin is still the space explorer, always looking and making plans for future space travel. Others were more down-to-earth scientists, while some were just decent family men who had varied careers after space.
What they shared was the fact that out of all the billions of human beings who ever existed on earth, they were the “Lucky Dozen” who landed on the moon, or the “Lucky Dozen” who circled around it with views people could only dream of.
Not back for a diverse bunch of American “flyboys”, who blazed the trail to the moon in the hopes that others will follow.
Alan Bean, RIP. Now you can paint heavenly things from Heaven. What a view of existence you have had. Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing that experience. So he wrote at least five books. I imagine each of those books had to first be cleared by the CIA or the old version of NSA.
And then again, maybe no clearance was needed, if the scientific, and engineering data had all become public by then.